crazydiver

Get a super baggy freefly suit. An RW suit is not going to give you much slowing power even if it has swoop cords. The freefly pants with baggy legs will give you, although not quite as much as booties, lots of driving power in your legs. Try someone's out and see. Otherwise, there is no way to find an RW suit for slow fallers with booties. Cheers, Travis

I feel like the velocity is one of the most versatile canopies I've flown. Although it doesn't turn with as little input as a stiletto or something similar, it can turn just as quickly, you just have to give more input quicker. Cheers, Travis

Why shouldnt you have some salt to go with those advice given by the local heros ? I think you should.. more so becouse then nobody else will be there to correct them if they tell you something 1on1. I agree that no one would correct them if they are in person one on one, but hopefully the information given to this person will be more accurate and logical from someone who knows this person's motivation, attitude, and skill level. None of use really have a true knowledge of who this person is unless we have interacted with them on various levels in person. We can't give this person advice on here and have it be 100% correct. Cheers, Travis

I would not recommend "timing" your downsizing or expecting your jump numbers to reflect your skills, opinions, and motivations at the time you are planning on downsizing. Enjoy what you have now...when you get bored with it and can land it anywhere in any condition, then it may be time to downsize. However, timewise, there a couple schools of thought on this: Perhaps partway into the season is best due to the fact that you will have gotten current again and still have the season to really get going on the canopy. Or... Perhaps towards the end of the season or even during winter is best since the density altitude is lower and the canopy will fly a bit slower and your jumps will be spaced apart enough that you will have more time to really learn and consider what you are doing during each jump (not that you shouldn't do that during the season too). Ask canopy guru's at your DZ for the best answer. Ask questions on here (but take the responses with a grain of salt). Form your own opinions through common sense also. Most importantly, though, is to ask and listen to great canopy coaches at your DZ and see what they think based on your skill level, motivation, currency, altitude, attitude... I just don't recommend "planning" on downsizing. Just do what feels right and common sense to do at the moment rather than planning your current canopy's "obsolescence." Cheers, Travis

Come on, dude! It's right here in the same thread! http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2769588#2769588 Did you even read the thread? "He's an angry elf!" Cheers, Travis

Slinks will hold in any orientation when routed correctly, but can cause malfunctions if the tabs (or rings) end up in a position where they are exposed. They pose no stregnth threat in this situation, but are asking to get brake lines and what not hung up on them. By tacking them down first, you are then telling them where to set themselves when they do settle. Tacking them after they have already been set provides no advantage to simply tacking them down first and eliminating the problem from the beginning. Alternatively, just as an FYI, tacking the slinks down after they have been set (even if out of place) is perfectly safe and viable. Remember to not tie the tacking too tight so that the thread is not loaded when the canopy is loaded. Cheers, Travis

Let's just call them a three ring rather than a three ring circus... Cheers, Travis

Get him some finnish aquavite instead he will probably treat you better if you threaten him with that Also there is a bunch or my perspective of me flying my 129 two marches ago in Arizona after first ro8und of canopy coaching but before brian germain. in this video All 180s...check out the last one for sure...the first few are warmups http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3584&string=Arizona_Mar06_sm Dave Dude, those were 90 degree turns all throughout the movie... Cheers, Travis

Just as an FYI, there is no canopy on the market that will stay in a dive forever until you give input. Many are longer than other, but they all recover. In fact, if one is flying the wing most efficiently, they should not be using much, if any, input the bring the canopy out of the dive. By doing that, one is adding drag and slowing the canopy down. A person should let the canopy recover itself...plus its safer that way. Also, the tricky/twitchy part at the end of your flare, like stated earlier, is a strong bottom end flare. This is different from many non-crossbraced canopies in which you can keep giving input at the end of the flare and receive no response. This is actually a benefit of the canopy! Cheers, Travis

I have one of Mel's Skyworks RDS systems and it definetly softens up the openings/lengthens the openings. THe slider is the original dimensions as the stock slider. Perhaps its the material the rings are made from. Perhaps its that the yellow teflon cable makes the slider more "rigid." Perhaps its just a physical mystery. The challenge that comes with it is the challenge that comes with any opening that takes longer to inflate. One must steer the opening or use harness input more precisely to keep the canopy on heading. This could be the issue you are experiencing with slower openings...if that is the problem you are having. Cheers, Travis

The best knife (in my opinion) is the Jack the Ripper knives. Although they are plastic, they are a much stronger type of plastic, they are larger and easier to grab, hold onto, and use, and they have been proven to work over and over in multiple incidents. I ALWAYS carry one attached to my thigh on tandems. And USPA does not require a hook knife, certain dropzones may, but USPA does not. Cheers, Travis

Can anyone tell what type of unput he is using to initiate the dive? Front riser? outside a-b line? other? Cheers, Travis

If you really didn't hate your rigger, you'd have another brand of container. Cheers, Travis

Isn't it, "You jump out of airplanes?" "Whuf fo?" Cheers, Travis

Jump a VX and you'll understand. Relatively speaking, I think even a Velo will surprise you at its higher front riser pressure relative to the Xaos. Cheers, Travis

I would tend to disagree about how ground hungry the Xaos's are. I feel that they are very much flatter than velo's and vx's. Watch video of competition swooping with all of those canopies, and the ones that you will find climbing after plain out the most are the Xaos's. I would not attribute the climbing to pilot technique or amount of energy built up in the dive since Xaos's tend to be a touch less aggressive than Velos and VX's. Xaos's have a pretty flat glide ratio for crossbraced canopies. This can also contribute to why the front riser pressure is so low on Xaos's. Just my 2 cents. Cheers, Travis

People did coke in the 80's? Cheers, Travis

Perhaps you can summon a local rigger to look at it... Cheers, Travis

I'm not sure I'm catching your drift...care to explain? Cheers, Travis

Thanks for all the info. I was wondering about AFF so I can keep my rating current as well as my tandem rating. Luckily I haven't had to deal with the perils of being an unlicensed jumper for about five years. I'm up for whatever. I'm spoiled right now having been at a DZ with an otter and king air for the last two years, but have been at cessna only dropzones a fair share as well. I think I will need to do my Strong crossover training if I venture out to the NE to do tandems since it looks like most of them tend towards strong systems up there. Do you know if these DZ's you mentioned are welcoming to new instructors, or is it one of those things that you must have been there for a while before they put you to work? Cheers, Travis

It wouldn't be fair to tell you now. Chances are, you would start seeing these things. We'll let you figure it out on your own and if you never experience some of these things, then fantastic! If you begin to experience them, don't let them get you down. Just realize that you love the sport and won't let those things bother you! Hope that helps. Cheers, Travis

THat is the one I was looking at. Do they have instructors there that speak only english? I speak spanish, so learning a bit of French would not be super hard, but is something that would also just be cool to do. Anyway...I'm excited to check it all out if I end up in Burlington. Cheers, Travis

I thought about going north to Canada, but I didn't know how it would be working at a DZ there not knowing French. Also, I know USPA is accepted in many other countries, but I didn't know about ratings and stuff how that would work. Cheers, Travis

Sounds good. Cheers, Travis

that's over three hours from Burlington...that sounds like a "only on special occasions" dropzone. Cheers, Travis